Senator Albert Gore, Sr.: Tennessee Maverick

""Non-cussin', non-smokin,' non-drinkin'"" Albert Gore, Sr., the father of former vice president Al Gore, Jr., earned a reputation as a lawmaker who marched to the beat of a different drummer during his 32 years on Capitol Hill. This well-researched book is the first major work to take stock of the southern Democrat's life and times. Arizona State University historian Longley (In the Eagle's Shadow: The United States and Latin America) zeroes in on Gore's distinctive brand of political pragmatism, which was particularly evident when he addressed contentious subjects like race. The Tennessean switched gears as necessary, supporting Japanese internment during World War II and, under election year pressure, voting against the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act (a decision he later regretted). Yet, he also penned Air Force academy recommendations for African Americans and supported the weaker 1957 civil rights measures, which earned him the enmity of his more conservative constituents. In the end, after challenging presidents from FDR to JFK, Gore's battles with Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon over his opposition to Vietnam cost the iconoclast his Senate seat in 1970. The relationship between Gore and his son looms large over the book's final chapters. Longley reveals that""many would characterize"" the elder Gore's treatment of his only son as""sadistic"" because he constantly pushed Al Jr. hard and insisted he perform manual farm labor to keep from becoming""spoiled and conceited."" Fascinating family information like this is sprinkled throughout, but the book is more a survey of a political career than a biography. Although Longley's prose can be dry, he offers a solid, well-defined profile of a man who, according to his son,""personified the American dream."" 12 halftones.